Event Title

The Power of Relationships: Effective and Ineffective Advising at Colby College

Location

Diamond 123

Start Date

1-5-2014 1:00 PM

End Date

1-5-2014 3:00 PM

Project Type

Presentation- Restricted to Campus Access

Description

Advising is a crucial part of the undergraduate experience and this report examines the effectiveness of the advice Colby College students received from various people (e.g., friends, peers, family, professors, advisors, mentors) during their college experience. Interview transcripts from the New England Consortium on Assessment and Student Learning (NECASL) project, which interviewed 36 Colby students from various backgrounds over four years and one year after graduation (2006-2011), were analyzed to explore the effectiveness of advising. Through this analysis, effective formal advising, effective informal advising, and ineffective advising emerged as the major themes. The research found that peer advising served as the most effective, and heavily relied on, form of advising, professors who served as mentors for students effectively advised students, and various factors prevented formal advisors from effectively advising students. In order to enhance the effectiveness of advising at Colby, it is recommended that an advisor handbook be created to facilitate better student-advisor relationships and a formal student-student advising program be created to bridge the gap in the efficacy of formal and informal advising.

Faculty Sponsor

Mark Tappan

Sponsoring Department

Colby College. Education Program

CLAS Field of Study

Interdisciplinary Studies

Event Website

http://www.colby.edu/clas

ID

268

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May 1st, 1:00 PM May 1st, 3:00 PM

The Power of Relationships: Effective and Ineffective Advising at Colby College

Diamond 123

Advising is a crucial part of the undergraduate experience and this report examines the effectiveness of the advice Colby College students received from various people (e.g., friends, peers, family, professors, advisors, mentors) during their college experience. Interview transcripts from the New England Consortium on Assessment and Student Learning (NECASL) project, which interviewed 36 Colby students from various backgrounds over four years and one year after graduation (2006-2011), were analyzed to explore the effectiveness of advising. Through this analysis, effective formal advising, effective informal advising, and ineffective advising emerged as the major themes. The research found that peer advising served as the most effective, and heavily relied on, form of advising, professors who served as mentors for students effectively advised students, and various factors prevented formal advisors from effectively advising students. In order to enhance the effectiveness of advising at Colby, it is recommended that an advisor handbook be created to facilitate better student-advisor relationships and a formal student-student advising program be created to bridge the gap in the efficacy of formal and informal advising.

https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2014/program/345